Cinema chain Vue has announced that it has signed a deal to install more than 1,000 Barco Series 4 projectors across its European portfolio by 2029.
The deal, which follows Barco’s recent similar announcement with Regal Cineworld, will cover all eight countries in which Vue operates across Europe.
The U.K., Germany, and Denmark will lead the line for the new projector installations, and Vue Southport in the North West of England has already been upgraded; Vue’s flagship site in Southport, located in the North West of England, is next in line.
While it will take another four years for all the projectors to be installed, it’s still great news for cinema goers. Laser projection delivers brighter, clearer and more color-rich images compared to the Xenon bulbs used in conventional digital projectors, while also offering more consistent clarity across the whole of the frame and won’t suffer from reduced brightness over time, which can seriously degrade image quality, especially for 3D images.
As Casey Collins, the vice president of sales for Barco North America, told me in a recent interview, the wide range of choice offered by the Barco Series 4 range means cinema vendors can pick the right model for their needs, depending on the screening room size. This includes models with 4K resolution, delivering images with increased detail.
“Barco shares Vue’s commitment to delivering new and exciting cinema experiences,” said Gerwin Damberg, EVP of Barco Cinema. Together, we look forward to bringing Laser by Barco to Vue’s theatres throughout Europe. With laser projection, audiences will enjoy the next generation of movie presentation with stunning picture quality, high image brightness and increased color gamut.”
However, the deal with Vue does not appear to include Barco’s recent state-of-the-art HDR by Barco projector (read my impression of it), of which Damberg was one of the key technical innovators and for which he recently received no less than an Academy Award. (Read my interview with Gerwin Damberg to find out more about how it works.)
This is not surprising, however, as Vue, at least in the UK, tends to focus on more conventional, rather than premium, formats, having only four IMAX screens and just six with Dolby Atmos. The deal does mean that over the next few years, mainstream cinema goers will be much more likely to get a better experience when they go to the cinema, and that has to be something to be celebrated.
